Saturday, December 5, 2015
Catfish
After seeing the movie Catfish, I realized some of the strange parts of technology in our world today. All my life I have always been uncomfortable by the idea of starting a relationship completely online. It was the lack of human interaction that truly scared me about these individuals. The woman who fooled everyone went to great lengths to try and deceive others she created over sixteen Facebook accounts in order to fool one person. One thing I think the movie did not touch enough on which is that this woman was motivated in large part by money to deceive Nev. One of the largest reason, Nev uses and sells these painting were because he believed they were coming from Abby a young brilliant and talented mind. Angela continues to lie to Nev in order to maintain the opportunity in front of her and use Nev. She uses Nev kindness and trust for profit which sickens me. I think Nev is incredibly patient and sympathetic towards Angela, a girl who lied to and manipulated him. He reacted in a way I do not believe I would have the strength to do. He keeps a level head about himself when she had been lying to him and leading him on for over eight months. I would not have such patients with her. I would probably have words with her in a respectful manner, leave and send all her paintings I have in inventory back to her. I would also probably blast her on social media. I am just not someone who likes people who fake who they really are. I am just so glad I live in a world where Skype exists.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I am completely in agreement with you in regards to Nev's reaction. It was surprising how kind and level-headed he was about the whole thing. I think Nev handled it well though. There was probably no nicer way to have gone about confronting Angela. But I agree with you. I would not have the patience to be so kind with this woman. I would have been furious to know I had begun to like someone who wasn't even real. Though I'm also in agreement with you that I would never begin a relationship online with a complete stranger. It brings about such a large question in today's time about who we are in real life versus who we are online. You have to meet someone in person to really know them. Facebook and Instagram give us a filter that can heavily alter what we truly are.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with everything you said. The way Nev reacted had me in awe. There is no possible way I could've been that patient with her after all the lying she did. I just don't understand how people are capable of that kind of lying and manipulating to people they "care" about.
ReplyDeleteI'm not so sure this was motivated as much by finances as it was motivated by attention. I could be wrong, but I don't ever remember Angela discussing how much she was making off the paintings just that when new ones came out she would send a few to Nev. Angela clearly had some skill when it came to her artwork and probably felt that she just wanted someone else to recognize her passion and ability. She went about it the complete wrong way obviously, but I got the impression she was motivated more by seeking attention/recognition than she did by the financial benefit.
ReplyDeleteI can see where you are going with the attention argument Dan. It is not so much that she wants attention but rather she wants to escape her reality; she wants to experience a part of life that she has never seen. She explains to Nev how she loves the life she lives but in choosing that life she has had to make a lot of sacrifices. She mentioned that she wanted to be a dancer yet in taking care of the two disabled boys she never had the chance to pursue that dream and others like it. Creating those false identities was a way for the woman to try to live the life she had never had.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and your post, Eli. It is amazing how calm and collected Nev was after it was proven he was getting lied to. Also, I have no idea how people can start relationships over the internet like they do now a days. I would much rather meet someone in person as opposed to meeting them online.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Daniel, I do not think she used Nev for profit. She just wanted someone to notice her and appreciate her, because she spends so much time taking care of her family she probably goes unnoticed to them. So for someone like Nev to show her so much attention it made her feel like she had a part in the world. However, I do disagree with the way she did it. It was totally immoral to lie and manipulate someone like that.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember Angela making profit off of the paintings. I believe she truly needed some male attention and something to make her feel accepted. You could tell that she had low self-esteem and was depressed that she never did anything with her life. I also feel like she was upset because she didn't really have anything to do during the day and she was confined to her house which also probably led her to catfish.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jade, I do not recall Nev selling those paintings for a profit. I also agree with what you said about how you would have reacted. I would have flipped out if I was in Nev's position. Clearly Nev noticed that this woman had problems and if he would have had a bad reaction, who knows what could have happened to him.
ReplyDeleteTo me, blasting someone on social media is a terrible thing. You wouldn't want it to happen to you, so why do it to someone else? He was mainly trying to get the truth out of her once he realized that something wasn't right. He met this woman and realized she was having a hard life and didn't want to make things worse.
ReplyDelete